Smartphones have been around for almost a decade with the 2009-2010 periods seeing the start of the Android season. Well before that, phones started getting smarter with BlackBerry and a few others offering more than just a conventional cell phone to make calls or send text messages. However, mobile phones have been around since more than decade and each phone till date, has the same issue—battery life, that concerns its user. While mobile phones prior to being smart, lasted almost for a week on a full charge, smartphone users today are always craving for their batteries to last longer than noon.
Though charging the smartphone almost thrice each day is now a common scenario, using a device for almost everything in daily your life is something that everyone admits as an addiction. Be it conventional talking and texting to social networking, emails, photography and videos, every smartphone today is having those power-hungry apps. But how do you keep your device from having that red notification light blinking towards the late afternoon? Charge it—is the best answer.
But many people out there, especially the ones who consider themselves ‘tech-savvy’ always adhere to common battery-related myths, and pass it down to the next generation smartphone users, scaring them to the limit. Don’t charge your phone always’, ‘don’t use it when charging’, ‘use that original charger’ and a few other myths are still making rounds, making you do what the ‘tech-gurus’ usually advice.
Well, here are six such ‘untrue’ battery-related myths that you should know today. Android Authority has compiled a beautifully true myth-buster about the smartphone battery, which we bring out especially for you.
Myth: Never leave your smartphone charging overnight – it’s bad for the battery.
Busted: Well, this probably goes for those who believing in overcharging. While most new smartphones can charge completely within an hour or two, they will never overcharge themselves. New smartphone are built with sensors that can detect heat and charge. They will automatically cut off when the charge is complete and if the temperature of the battery exceeds the rated measurements. People familiar with this myth are also scared that leaving the phone to charge overnight will reduce the battery’s capacity. Don’t worry—Lithium-Ion batteries are used inside all smartphones today and have been built with protection circuits for overheating and overcharging. When your smartphone is charged, the internal circuit of the smartphone will cut off the power and trickle charge the battery to keep it at full capacity. It’s completely safe and OK to keep the charger connected all night, or even the day.
Myth: Always discharge the battery completely before charging.
Busted: Well, it was true for older battery technology when Ni-Cad and Ni-MH batteries were around. Older mobile phones and rechargeable devices used Ni-Cad and Ni-MH batteries that suffered the ‘memory effect’. This effect caused the older type battery to ‘lose its memory’, literally. In the older battery, the issue was that when you don’t completely discharge it, the battery starts charging from the point it has the power. Take for example a smartphone with the old battery type is always being charged when it reaches around 20 per cent. The battery then starts charging only the balance 80 per cent. The memory effect that haunted Ni-Cad and Ni-MH batteries made the battery forget what their full capacity is and the battery forgets that 20 per cent completely. So your battery actually thinks that 80 percent is the new 100 per cent. So you lost that 20 per cent. Hence you had to discharge it completely before charging it again. You should know that Li-Ion batteries don’t have this issue and you can safely charge the battery whenever you feel like.
Myth: Never use that smartphone when it is charging—it could blow up!
Busted: Smartphone batteries ‘never’ blow up when charging, well, at least if they are from a sub-standard manufacturer or physically damaged. This type of myth is usually passed down from older (partially) techies who have lived with older batteries during their time. As usually believed that using the device when charging can explode or electrocute you, you should know that it is completely safe. Using that smartphone when charging will never cause any harm—so go ahead, it’s completely safe.
Myth: Always use the original cable and charger for your smartphone.
Busted: Well, while partially true, it is just a marketing stunt that companies usually pull off. Yes, they want you to use the original charger so that they can sell you more of their own accessories. You can safely charge smartphones with a charger from another device, without any problems. Unless, the power output of the charger is ‘more than 5V’ or if the charger is manufactured from one of your friendly ‘cheap’ manufacturers. Though we too recommend using the original charger for the device since it is highly compatible, you can use other chargers too. All chargers today are rated at 5V and between 1A and 2A and will charge at speeds of the power output it supports.
Myth: Use app killers to save battery power.
Busted: This one you should be careful from. While it is true that killing unwanted apps can save power, it is actually the other way around. Killing apps actually does not reduce power consumption, it actually increases it. Yes – it actually drains more power. Here is how it actually works—most apps that run in the background are designed to stay put and access the resources such as storage, processor, network and alike. If you kill the app, they start up again in a while. By killing and restarting apps again and again, you are actually using resources more than what would be used for it to stay in the background. Hence more power used for starting them again. Leave them where they are and let them run in the background. Killing them will actually use more battery power. If you are sure you don’t use them at all, disable the app completely or simply uninstall them to save power.
Myth: Disable Bluetooth and GPS when not using to save more battery.
Busted: Again, this was true for older smartphones with older operating systems. Old technology was power hungry and older operating systems were not managing the unused resources properly. This was the reason the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS would constantly keep trying to scan for services and data when they were kept switched-on, straining the battery further. However, new smartphones with the latest operating systems are optimised in a way that they are used only when required. Keeping the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS enabled will not strain the battery as they will be used only when the app calls for it. So they will stay inoperative until called for. Keep those services disabled that you don’t need unless you know you use them occasionally.
Source: Android Authority.
